phineasandferbfandomcom-20200223-history
Phineas and Ferb Wiki:Newsletter submissions/Just livin' in a funhouse...
Hey there all; Flash here to review the two latest episodes of Phineas and Ferb--"Ask a Foolish Question" and "Misperceived Monotreme", while Bpendragon covers "Moon Farm" and "The Belly of the Beast" elsewhere in this same issue. First up we have "Ask a Foolish Question". A big pet peeve of mine about Season 3 so far in that it has a nasty habit of downgrading Phineas and Ferb's Big Ideas--usually in favor of more Candace plots, which are fine in certain incriminates but not in a continuous string of episodes like what's been happening so far this season--which means that these usually marvelously fascinating and entertaining devices become one-note and unexplored. This episode, however, finally put some more effort and focus on the device, which was interesting and quite entertaining. The sheer idea of a machine that knows everything is really a fascinating subject and something I sure everyone wished they had. The plot did dissolve into a very basic "Candace seeks help to bust her brothers from other" plot done already in episodes like "Suddenly Suzy", but the sheer novelty of the super computer was still enough to keep the plot engrossing enough. I especially liked the very self-aware musical number, "Buildin' a Supercomputer", which acted as purposefully and hilariously over-explained montage music. Meanwhile in Doof and Perry's plot, was a typically strong outing, subverting a typical Agent P b-plot by having Doofenshmirtz searching for the key to his own invention. Their fight scene towards the end was very inventive and filled with some very amusing sight gags. Definitely a step in the right direction for this season, with an interesting Big Idea and some very funny jokes. Overall, A. Then in "Misperceived Monotreme", we had another very clever and amusing Big Idea--this time, transforming the house into a crazy funhouse. The sheer sight value of the fun house and the mechanics of the animation to presenting it was itself great, let alone all the excellently timed sight gags that resulted from it. Not to mention the absolutely phenomenal song "Funhouse", which is an excellent jangle pop-infused Vaudeville number that manages to be both insanely catchy and funny. "And while we're on the subject here's my friend Davy / He was in the Navy / And his hair is wavy" is absolute gold. I felt another thing "Monotreme" had going for it was the perfect balance between the plots. Once again I note that my complaint about this season is too much focus on a single character (Candace) which, while offering some amusement, borders on redundant and slows down the progress and focus of other things on the show like the boys' invention that I personally find more entertaining. This episode demonstrated what the show is usually best at: balancing these three intertwining storylines with just the right amount of and sense of importance with each of them. All three plots managed to entertain, with Perry being caught up in Candace's plot and Doofenshmirtz fighting a normal platypus in the typical Agent P plot by mistake. All situations led to very funny hijinks, and this is definitely one of--if not the--best episodes of the season thus far. Overall, A+ Agree with this review? Disagree? Can't really decide? Let us know on our talk page. Just_livin%27_in_a_funhouse...